§ Mr. MELLERasked the Minister of Health whether, with a view to enabling local authorities who have made advances under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act to reduce the rate of interest charged by them on money so lent, he will consider the advisability of reducing the rate of interest charged by his Department to such local authorities?
Sir H. YOUNGMy hon. Friend is under some misapprehension. Local authorities who make advances under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act obtain their money either from the Public Works Loan Board or from other sources open to them and not from my Department. The rates of interest chargeable on advances made by local authorities under this Act have been fixed from time to time by my Department with the approval of the Treasury. The interest rates charged on advances which have already been made by local authorities cannot, therefore, be reduced as they were related to the rates at which the authorities themselves were then able to borrow. 1175W The rate chargeable for future advances, however, is now under consideration in view of the general fall in rates of interest